Revealed: Faces of Black Country gang who stole over £1m worth of goods and tractor trailers

Nine of the men were sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court last week and a tenth was dealt with in a separate sitting - collectively they were locked up for more than 30 years for conspiracy to commit theft.

At the main sentencing, Judge Michael Chambers KC said none of the nine men played a small part in the operation, between October 2019 and February 2022 - all had either a significant or leading role.

It saw various members of the group take part in 19 raids during that time, often using a white Scania tractor unit before breaking into mainly large firms situated on industrial parks and taking trailers and the stock they contained. The court heard it was so well planned, most of them took less than ten minutes.

One raid, at Globex Transport in Walsall in the early hours of July 1 2021, saw £20,000 worth of toilet paper stolen which was due to be delivered to Poundland as people were stockpiling it during the coronavirus pandemic.

In another raid in Walsall and one in Willenhall they stole over £190,000 of copper and in the Telford incident, the court heard they returned to the scene of their first crime to look for more cycles. The tractor trailers they stole and usually abandoned were worth on average £16k.

Other items taken included £50k worth of baby milk on an operation in Oldbury, gin and other alcohol, Galaxy chocolate, a de-humidifier and other industrial equipment and in Telford, electric cycles worth £47,000. 

Different members of the gang took varying roles in the operation, which also featured sites in Lancashire, Northamptonshire and Devon - some had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit theft initially but then changed their plea on the trial day.

Judge Chambers told the group: "This was a highly organised conspiracy to steal lorry trailers and expensive merchandise in planned attacks

"In total the amount of goods and trailers taken were valued at nearly £2m but when you take into account the cost of increased insurance premiums and security it was very much in excess of that.

"Some of you were arrested at the scene of an incident yet continued to offend - all of the 19 raids would have took significant planning in advance, technical know how and the use of equipment which was later found in a number of vehicles used.

"When you were at the scene you would cut fences, disable trackers and in once case break into a key safe to get access to a tractor trailer, it was clear you all knew exactly what you were doing."

"It was a persistent and sustained operation, disrupting mainly large companies on industrial parks, most of which carried goods which were vital to the supply chain of the British economy."